The physical-therapy division of The Aspen Club, which recently evaded foreclosure proceedings, has closed after falling behind $56,585 on its monthly rent payments.
Aspen Club Sports Medicine Institute closed Wednesday after its landlord won a default judgment in the amount of $65,532, which includes back rent, late fees, attorney fees and court costs. The judgment also allowed the landlord, Karbank 420 LLC, to evict the business located at 430 W. Main St., court records show.
“They did move out, so the sheriff isn’t going to have to throw them out,” said Aspen attorney Lance Cote, who filed the complaint in Pitkin County District on behalf of Aspen lawyer Neil Karbank, owner of the property.
Aspen Club Sports Medicine had been operating from the space on a temporary basis, while its permanent home is part of the stalled redevelopment project of The Aspen Club campus at 1450 Ute Ave.
“This is worse for our patients than it is for us,” said Sarah Miller, one of three physical therapists who had worked for the group, which also included a chiropractor and clinic manager. Miller referred questions Chris Peshek, who worked for more than 25 years at Aspen Club Sports Medicine.
Neither Peshek nor Michael Fox, president of The Aspen Club, could be reached Monday.
In an affidavit to the complaint, Karbank said The Aspen Club owed rent and late fees for September through February. Karbank also provided the club a written notice Jan. 3 that it would have to vacate the property if it didn’t make good on its outstanding rent.
Cote said Karbank “was amazingly patient to let them go that long. I know that Michael keeps saying ‘we’ve got this financing coming,’ but it doesn’t seem to be happening. At least not in our case.”
Fox most recently told the Aspen Times, in an article published March 7, that The Aspen Club was on the brink being refinanced, and that “we think it’s in everyone’s best interest to close the financing and get the creditors paid off and complete the project and get the company up and running.”
The Aspen Club closed its facility, including Aspen Club Sports Medicine Institute, in February 2016. The institute relocated to Main and signed its original lease agreement Feb. 12, 2016, court documents show.
Members of the private club were told at time the closure would last eight to 10 months to allow for completion of the 554,000-square-foot expansion, which includes townhomes, timeshares and 12 multi-family affordable-housing units.
Construction, however, continued into August 2017, when subcontractors walked off the job because they were owed money for labor and materials.
The result has been millions of dollars in mechanics’ liens, a lawsuit involving dozens of contractors, and a loan-note holder’s foreclosure action that was pulled March 4. Additionally, a number of Aspen Club members no longer have reciprocal benefits at other local health clubs that they once were entitled to when construction began.